• Because maple is an organic material, the actual weight of each platform varies slightly. Every Mapleshade platform is planed down from air-dried rough-cut 2-1/4" and 4-1/2" maple to remove coarseness and imperfections from the sawmill. Typically this process yields a finished 2" or 4"thickness. But, because of variations in the rough-cut timber, the exact thickness can vary by 3/16".

Ordering Tips:
• Recommended for components up to 18-1/2" wide and 15-1/2" deep

• It is essential for the points of the platform's footers to contact the solid floor beneath the carpet.

• For high pile carpet with padding (more than 1/2" deep), you need Thick Carpet Footers to penetrate to the floor.

• Two inch thick platforms make a satisfying improvement under every stereo component we've tried. Stepping up to a four inch thickness is a serious sonic upgrade, especially under turntables and tube gear.

Design Concept of the Mapleshade Component Mounting System:

Electrical currents (the music signals that drive your speakers) create unwanted vibrations inside every electronic component, turntable and speaker cabinet. These internal vibrations muddy the music signal much more significantly than external room vibrations do. Many hybrid isolation/coupling devices like Roller Blocks, IsoBearings, magnetic couplers, etc. purport to serve three essential functions—vibration transfer, vibration dissipation and external isolation—all in one nice, neat convenient footer. Unfortunately, these all-in-one devices serve none of their purported functions very well. That is to say, hybrid devices do change the sound of your system; unfortunately, while they they may yield improvements in some areas, they impose penalties in other areas, e.g better midrange detail but less warmth, increased treble clarity but more edginess, etc.

Mapleshade's Component Mounting System serves all three of the above functions, but uses an ensemble of three separate devices, each optimized for one and only one function:

• First, the Heavyfeet are designed only to cleanly drain out of the component as much of its internal vibrational energy as possible. They do so more effectively and sound better than any competing footer at any price (and are exceeded only by our Triplepoints and Micropoints). Through long hours of listening experiments we have specifically optimized their shape, material, alloy, and mass to maximize the vibrations transfering out of the component and minimize vibrations transfering back into the component.

• Second, the Mapleshade Platforms (or SAMSON shelves) serve as the sink (or receiver) for vibrational eneregy transferred out of the component by the Heavyfeet, a sink intended to dissipate as much of this energy as possible. But no vibration transfer-dissipation system, including Mapleshade's, is 100% efficient - which is why the resonant quality of our air-dried maple is a significant element in the good sound of our component mounting system. Inevitably, some small percentage of the vibrations transferred from the component reflects back into the gear. The waveform of these reflected vibrations is changed (that is, distorted) by the acoustical transmission properties of the material of the sink or platform. Each specific material introduces different waveform changes; thus, each material "colors" the sound of your system differently. Even low quality generic, kiln-dried wood typically yields more pleasing sound than metal, stone, glass, MDF, plywood and the myriad of highly damped composite platform materials on the market. In our listening experiments thick, air-dried maple sounded clearer, more detailed, warmer and closer to the tonal balance of our master tapes than any other platform material—audibly better than harder or softer or denser woods, and notably better than kiln-dried maple or maple butcher block.

• Third, Isoblocks serve to isolate the component and platform from reflected or external vibrations in the supporting shelf or floor. But we DO NOT recommend using Isoblocks under platforms that will be mounted on carpet because they will rock slightly. Nothing -- speakers, amps or any other component -- sounds good floating on top of carpet. To ensure the platform is mounted ridgedly on carpeted floors, we offer platforms with carpet-piercing brass footers attached. To hear the full potential of your gear, it is essential for the tip of the footer to contact the solid floor beneath.

For order status and tracking please click here to log-in to your account. Then select the "View Your Order History" link, choose an order number, and scroll down to the "Tracking Information" field. For technical questions about our products and system upgrade advice, please email info@mapleshadestore.com or call (410)867-7543.